Housing

More than 50 people attended the Socialist Alliance launch of its Blue Mountains branch, including locals, visitors from Greater Sydney and those keen to advance social and ecological justice in the mountains and surrounding areas. Aaisha Slee reports.

Lots of kites are being flown about how to make housing affordable in the lead-up to the May budget. Graham Matthews argues that Labor could raise the tax rate to the OECD average and immediately have an extra $140 billion for public housing.

Sue Bull argues that while the allegations sound bad, there is no hard evidence of the CFMEU’s criminality in Geoffrey Watson’s report to the Queensland commission of inquiry into the union.

Despite governmental apologies and promises to do better, the forced removal of First Nations’ children has not slowed down, Cas Smith reports.

While opinion polls show Pauline Hanson’s One Nation ahead of the Coalition, how substantial or transient this is remains a political question, argues Alex Bainbridge.

Multiple government agreements have been made to “close the gap” but, as Peter Boyle writes, the 2025 Closing the Gap report reveals that most measures will not be reached by 2030.

The Australian Council of Social Services warns the latest rise would disproportionately affect lower-income households, many of whom already spend a larger share of their income on essential costs. Suzanne James reports.

A new Australian Council of Social Services report criticised generous tax breaks for driving up home prices and supercharging inequality. Ben Radford argues that without significant grassroots pressure, the political establishment will not budge from its investor-friendly housing system.